Adjustable tie-down apparatus for pickup trucks

ABSTRACT

An adjustable tie-down apparatus that is used to secure cargo in the bed of pickup truck by using an internal clamp and lever mechanism to clamp the L-shaped upper body, which rests flat against the top side of the rail of a truck bed, to the U-shaped lower body, which rests against the under side of the top of the rail and the interior of the downwardly protruding flange. The tie-down point is attached to backside of the U-shaped lower body and faces the interior of the truck bed to support the attachment of a cable, rope, strap, or similar anchor line for securing cargo placed in the bed of the truck. This apparatus may be placed at any point along the length of the rail of the truck bed and is adaptable to fit rails of varying thicknesses.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/068,956 filed on Mar. 11, 2008 by the presentinventor.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

None.

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

None.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

The present invention is directed to the field of anchors used forsecuring cargo placed in the bed of pickup trucks and provides a novelinternal locking mechanism that allows placement of the anchor at anypoint along with the length of the rail of the truck bed without the useof bolts or screws.

2. Prior Art

The present invention is related to cargo anchor accessories compatiblewith pickup truck beds and rails, specifically to an adjustable tie-downapparatus that may be secured at any point along the side rails of truckbeds.

Pickup trucks are popular vehicles due to their versatility and utilitywith respect to hauling various forms of cargo. To avoid damaging thecargo, the pickup truck, or possibly other vehicles on the roadway, mostcargo must be secured in some fashion usually with the use of rope,chains, or straps. The majority of pickup trucks manufactured todaypossess access points for use in tying down or otherwise securing cargo.However, these access points are generally fixed at predeterminedlocations around the truck bed or are located along the outside of therails around the truck bed. The access points are typically located inthe four corners of the truck bed or possibly at the midpoint of therail.

Although useful in certain situations, the fixed tie-down pointsdescribed above can be impractical if the cargo is in a position on thetruck bed where the use of these fixed anchor points is impractical orimpossible. Over time, alternative devices have been proposed to createanchor points along the truck bed rails selected by the user, but thesedevices generally are permanent in nature, require modification to thetruck bed that cannot be reversed once the device is removed such asholes drilled into the rail, or require the use of external securingelements such as bolts and screws, which also require the presence oftools to secure the devices.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,966 to Roh (2006) discloses an anchor design thatclamps to the downward protruding flange of a pickup truck's inner siderail. The body of the anchor is fastened to the interior side rail withthe use of a bold that is tightened until sufficient tension is presentto hold the anchor in its place. The upper portion of the anchorcontaining the slot where the strap is placed is also secured with abolt and nut. This anchor is limited by the necessity of tools to securethe anchor to the inner bed rail and to adjust and secure the positionof the slot plate. A user will expend unnecessary time securing theanchor and will experience unnecessary delay and effort if the anchorneeds to be moved along the length of the truck rail.

The present invention solves the problem of additional fastening devicesto secure the anchor to the truck rail by introducing an internalclamping mechanism that is permanently attached to the body of theapparatus and may be utilized without the use of other tools or items.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,969,219 to Speece et al. (2005) discloses an anchor thatconsists of two plates, one that rests atop the truck rail and possessesthe anchor tie-down point and the other that is placed beneath the truckrail to engage the flange tube located on the underside of the rail. Theupper cover plate and the lower locator plate are secured with screws.This design is limited because it can only be placed at the existingstake pockets in the truck's rails. These stake pockets are at fixedlocations thereby limiting the accessibility of the anchor. Further, thelocator plate has upturned lips that positioned on opposing sides of theflange tube beneath the rail. This is limiting due to the fact that manytrucks contain flanges that protrude downward from the rail's apertureat a length that will preclude the use of this design.

The present invention solves these problems by allowing the apparatus tobe positioned at any point along the truck rail excluding areas whereexisting stake pockets are positioned. A single apparatus may berepositioned along a rail or multiple apparatus may be positionedadjacent to each other.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,328 to Chaucherty (2000) discloses an anchor in theform of a cleat attached to a flat plat that may be bolted to theinterior of the truck bed. This design as disclosed is limited by theapparent necessity that the cleats be placed along the interior of thetruck bed. Depending on the amount of cargo placed in the bed, suchlocations may become inaccessible given that the rail flange protrudestoward the interior and towards the bed floor. Further, this inventionis limited by the requirement that bolts or other fastening device beused to attach the anchor to the truck.

The present invention solves this problem by placing the tie-down pointon the anchor atop the rail of the truck bed. The cargo may be safelysecured without the necessity of moving cargo that may be storedalongside the interior of the truck bed and without occupying valuablestorage space in the interior of the bed with straps, ropes, orfastening device.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,490 to Erskine et al. (2000) discloses an anchorthat includes a cleat-like element for securing rope, cables, or straps.The primary use of the anchor requires that it be secured to thedownwardly protruding interior edge of a truck rail through the use of abolt or screw. This design is disadvantageous in situations wheresignificant tension is placed on the fastening device attached to thecleat. In these situations, the cargo could force the downwardlyprotruding interior flange to bend upward and give way in a manner thatreleases tension on the rope, which may cause damage to the cargo, andthat damages the appearance of the truck's rail.

The present invention resolves this problem by placing the L-shapedupper body along the topside of the rail and the lip of the U-shapedlower body along the underside of the rail. The anchor is secured by theinternal clamping mechanism that squeezes the upper and lower bodiestogether and against the top, flat edge of the rail. This designprevents the apparatus from being forced toward the interior of thetruck when extreme tension is placed on the anchor point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an apparatus that can be aligned at any pointalong the outer rails of a pickup truck to provide a tie down point forcargo in the truck's bed. The present invention consists of an L-shapedupper body containing a top plate that rests along the topside of thetruck rail. There are two elements that extend perpendicular from thetop plate creating the L-shaped design. The interior perpendicularincludes two indentions that serve to receive the hooks on the internalclamping mechanism. The exterior perpendicular element is a flat edgethat is slightly narrower than the top plate. A gap between the twoperpendicular elements exists to accept the back plate of the U-shapedlower body.

The U-shaped lower body generally consists of a front plate with a lipthat abuts to the underside of the top rail. The tie-down point isattached to the back plate and faces the interior of the truck bed whensecure. The internal clamping mechanism is located in the lower half ofthe U-shaped lower body between the front and back plates.

In the preferred embodiment, the L-shaped upper body is placed flatagainst the top of the rail of the truck bed. The interior perpendicularelement rests against the downwardly protruding flange of the rail. TheU-shaped lower body is placed into a position where the upper section ofthe back plate sits between the two perpendicular elements of theL-shaped upper body. The interior edge of the upper section sits againstthe interior of the downwardly protruding flange. The lip that extendsoutward form the front plate rests against the underside of the truckrail. Once the upper body and lower body are placed alongside the rail,the hooks may be placed into the indentions of the interiorperpendicular element and rendered taught. The upper and lower bodies ofthe apparatus are thus locked into place and the apparatus may be usedas a tie down point for cables or ropes securing cargo in the rear ofthe truck bed.

It is the object of this invention to offer an adjustable tie-downapparatus that can be used along any point of the truck bed's rail toserve as an anchor point for securing cargo with rope, chain, cable, orother fastening device in such a manner not present in existing priorart. It is the further object of the present invention to offer atie-down apparatus that does not require external fastening elementssuch as bolts or screw or additional tools to lock the apparatus intoplace. The present invention possesses an internal clamping mechanismthat can be locked securely into position in seconds without the need ofbolts, screws, nuts, or pins or any additional tools or devices. Anotherobjective of the present invention is provide an apparatus capable ofclamping to the rail of a truck bed in a secure manner to preventmovement and allow the anchor to remain fixed when tension is placed onthe anchor point. A further objective of the present invention is toadapt to truck rails of varying thicknesses. The present invention maybe secured to rails of varying thicknesses to allow for the apparatus tobe used with all models of trucks.

In addition to the features and objectives described above, otherfeatures, advantages, and objectives of the present invention will beevident from the detailed description of a specific illustrativeembodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the L-shaped upper body completelyremoved from the invention for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the U-shaped lower body completelyremoved from the invention for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the internal clamping mechanism hookcompletely removed from the invention for clarity;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the internal clamping mechanism latchcompletely removed from the invention for clarity;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 7 is a side view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a top view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The foregoing drawing figures and the following detailed descriptionillustrate the Adjustable Tie-Down Apparatus for Pickup Trucks in atleast one of its preferred embodiments. It will be recognized by thoseskilled in the art that the invention may be used in scenarios otherthan those specifically described below including any flat surface witha downwardly protruding edge where it is necessary to have a point forattaching some form of fastening device.

The present invention is an adjustable tie-down apparatus for pickuptrucks 100 used to secure cargo in the bed of a pickup truck. FIG. 1 isa perspective view of an L-shaped upper body 10. The L-shaped upper body10 is comprised of a top plate 12 with an exterior perpendicularextension 16 and an interior perpendicular extension 20. The interiorperpendicular extension 20 protrudes from the underside of said topplate 12. The left and right edges of interior perpendicular extension20 are angled upward toward the under side of top plate 12 to create twoindentions 22 and 24. Exterior perpendicular extension 16 connects totop 12 at a right angle and protrudes downward parallel to interiorperpendicular extension 20.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a U-shaped lower body 30. The U-shapedlower body 30 is comprised of a front plate 34 and a lip 32 that extendsaway from front plate 34 at a 90 degree angle. The U-shaped lower body30 is also comprised of a back plate 36 wherein front plate 34 and backplate 36 are joined as a single body with a curved bottom. Attached tothe back plate 36 is a tie-down point 40 comprised of a right support 42and a left support 44. The right support 42 and left support 44 aretriangular in shape extending further away from back plate 36 assupports 42 and 44 approach the top of back plate 36. Right support 42and left support 44 are joined by a tie-down bar 46.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an internal clamping mechanism hook 50comprised of a clamp hook 52 and a hook pivot aperture 56. FIG. 4 is aperspective view of an internal clamping mechanism latch 60 comprised ofa lever 62, a latch pivot aperture 64, and an attachment aperture 66.The internal clamping mechanism hook 50 is permanently attached to theinternal clamping mechanism latch 60 by a pin or bolt of proper diameterplaced through the hook pivot aperture 56 and the latch pivot aperture64.

FIGS. 5, 6, and 9 illustrate perspective views of the adjustabletie-down apparatus for pickup trucks 100 with the L-shaped upper body 10and U-shaped lower body 30 fully assembled. FIG. 5 illustrates the frontplate 34 comprised of a right front plate aperture 38 and a left frontplate aperture 39. A bolt or pin is placed through the front plateaperture 39 and passes through the attachment aperture 66 therebypermanently affixing the internal clamping mechanism latch 60 to thefront plate 34 in such a manner as to allow said internal clampingmechanism latch 60 to fully rotate up and down. FIG. 6 is a perspectiveview exploded to illustrate clamp hook 52 cradled within indention 22 ina locked position. Lever 62 is raised to allow clamp hook 52 to sitcradled within indention 22 and then lever 62 is pushed downward untilplaced into a locked position.

FIG. 7 is a side view that illustrates the adjustable tie-down apparatusfor pickup trucks 100 locked into position on a truck bed rail 90comprised of a top plane 92 and a downwardly protruding flange 94. TheL-shaped upper body 10 is placed flat against the top plane 92. Theinterior perpendicular extension 20 sits against the downwardlyprotruding flange 94. The U-shaped lower body 30 is placed beneath truckbed rail 90 so that tie-down bar 46 is facing away from downwardlyprotruding flange 94 and the lip 32 is placed flush against theunderside of top plane 92. The back plate 36 sits between interiorperpendicular extension 20 and exterior perpendicular extension 16.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the adjustable tie-down apparatus forpickup trucks 100 illustrating L-shaped upper body 10 and U-shaped lowerbody 30 locked into position around the truck bed rail 90. L-shapedupper body 10 is placed flat against the top truck bed rail 80 with thetop plate 12 flush against the surface of top plane 92 and the interiorperpendicular extension 20 flush against the downwardly protrudingflange 94. The U-shaped lower body 30 is fitted in position with the lip32 flush against the underside of top plane 92 and the front wall 34 andback wall 36 flush against the sides of the exterior perpendicularextension 16. Once the L-shaped upper body 10 and the U-shaped lowerbody 30 are in position, a lever 82 is raised to allow a clamp hook 72to engage indention 24. Once engaged, the lever 82 is lowered into thelocked position thereby pressing the top plate 12 against the top plane92 and pressing the lip 32 against the underside of top plane 92securing the adjustable tie-down apparatus for pickup trucks 100 inplace. The anchor tie-down bar 46 will face the inside of the pickuptruck bed in a position to receive a strap, rope, cable, or other anchorline for securing cargo placed on the bed of the pickup truck.

From the description and drawings referenced above, a number ofadvantages may be perceived including the ability to place theadjustable tie-down apparatus for pickup trucks 100 at any point alongthe truck bed rail 90 depending on the type and location of the cargo.This embodiment allows one to quickly and easily move the adjustabletie-down apparatus for pickup trucks 100 without removing and replacingany bolts or screws while still maintain a strong, secure attachment toprevent slippage from the weight of the cargo being secured.

While there have been shown and described what are considered to becertain embodiments of the invention, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various modifications and changes in form ordetail can be implemented without varying from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. It is understood that the embodiments described hereinare merely examples of the application of the principles of theinvention, and it is therefore intended that the invention not belimited to the exact form and detail described and shown herein nor toanything less than the whole of the invention herein disclosed andhereinafter claimed.

1. An adjustable tie-down apparatus for securing cargo in combinationwith a pickup truck having rails and a downwardly protruding flange,said apparatus capable of being located at various points along thelength of said rails, said apparatus comprising: an L-shaped upper bodyincluding two perpendicular extensions protruding away from said body toengage the surface of the rail and the downwardly protruding flange; anU-shaped lower body including a lip protruding perpendicularly from thebody to engage the under side of the rail; a tie-down bar locatedbetween two braces and attached to the U-shaped lower body on the sideopposite the lip to receive rope, straps, cable, or other anchoringdevice for securing cargo; two internal clamping mechanisms attached tothe U-shaped lower body on the lip side containing a lever and hook thatengages the innermost perpendicular extension to provide a means forapplying sufficient pressure to the apparatus bringing the U-shapedlower body and the L-shaped upper body against the rail.
 2. Anadjustable tie down apparatus, as recited in claim 1, wherein aprotective pad is attached to the L-shaped body to prevent scratching orscarring when placed in contact with the rail.